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Ancient

This course offers an introductory survey of the history of the ancient Mediterranean world, from the rise of city states in Mesopotamia c. 3000 BC to the transformation of the Roman Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. The emphasis will be on the major developments in the political and social history of the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, with special attention to those institutions, practices, ideas, and objects that have had an enduring influence on the development of western civilization.

This course will provide a survey of the Greek world from the collapse of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations to the death of Socrates in 399 BC. We will study the geography and economy of the Mediterranean region; the rise of communities, especially the polis, or city-state; early Greek culture, including art, architecture, poetry, and athletics; religion; warfare; the development of distinct political forms (tyranny, democracy, oligarchy); early philosophy; issues of ethnicity; and major events such as the Persian Wars, the rise of the Athenian empire, the Peloponnesian

The course deals with the origins of Christianity and the first eleven centuries of its expansion into a major institutional, social, and intellectual force shaping Western Europe. The central themes are the mechanisms and conditions shaping this expansion rather than a chronological account to present this process as a model of "institutionalization" (or not!) of religious movements.

What role did the establishment of laws play in the development of the polis in the Archaic period? What was the political impact of the Greeks' practice of writing down laws? How did the process and substance of legislation change over time in relation to shifting internal and external political circumstances? How did the substantive laws of the Greek poleis affect social, economic, and political behavior? How did the politically fragmented Greek world face the problem of settling disputes between states, and between individual citizens of different states?

At the end of the Peloponnesian War, some of Athens' enemies proposed that the great city, now starved into defeat, should be razed to the ground and turned into pastureland for sheep. So dramatic a reversal, so severe a punishment, was unthinkable to most Greeks even in the heated moment of their unexpected victory, and the proposal was not approved. It remains, however, indicative of a major turning-point in Greek history and will serve as our point of departure.

This course surveys the political, social, and cultural history of the Roman Empire from the death of Julius Caesar to the fourth-century emperor Constantine the Great, the great promoter of Christianity.

This research seminar is open to all History majors writing their senior theses, regardless of topic. Course readings will develop the suggested theme of ethnic conflict, cooperation, and identity. Many scholars have analyzed Greek and Roman attitudes toward other ethnic groups as characterized by defamation. More harshly, ";the invention of racism in classical antiquity"; has recently been identified. Even more recently, a more nuanced picture has been developed, in which Greek and Roman perceptions of foreigners allow appreciation and admiration.

This seminar will explore the rise and development of historical thought and historical writing in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Our readings will focus on five canonical authors, Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, Livy, and Tacitus, but we will read shorter selections from other historians as well.

This course is open to all students intending to write a thesis on a topic within the fields of ancient Greek, Roman, Late Antique, Byzantine, and Middle Eastern history. Students intending to take this class must meet with the instructor before the end of the fall semester; those that are already working on a topic must bring a one- or two-page outline in the meeting in order to have it approved by the instructor. Class meetings in the first couple of weeks of the spring semester will explore different models of research and writing.